Headmistress Roberta narrows her eyes. "Soldiers, not p.a.w.ns. And it's a great honor to be chosen," she snarls. "These Alphas will be responsible for shaping the future of our world."

I open my mouth to try to say something n.o.ble, like, "You'll never get away with this!" but since I'm not so confident that's true and I can't manage to lie, I'm unable to spit it out. So instead I content myself with saying, "My parents will be back for me!" instead. "They'll figure out you're up to no good!" Which could very well be true. Though I'm not sure their timing is going to match up with what I need in order to stay alive.

"Will they?" Roberta asks innocently. "Or will they simply accept the sad, tragic fact that you were slain by an evil fairy, on a mission to kidnap your sister and bring her back to fairyland?"

I let out a frustrated breath, realizing she's got me there. I mean, sure I'd love to be all like, "No way! My parents will totally see through your evil lies and realize you stole their daughter to aid you in your sinister plot to take over the world!" But really, that doesn't seem all that realistic.

Hopelessness wells up inside of me. Is this really the end? After all I've been through-evil vampires, werewolves, fairies-will my last moments really be spent lying on this uncomfortable bed as my blood is harvested to create a supernatural army of uber slayers?

I totally take back what I said about wanting an original, creative demise ...

Suddenly a commotion by the door interrupts my thoughts of death. I turn to see what's going on. Two attendants are wheeling in a second bed. I gasp as I catch sight of a shock of black hair.

It couldn't be. Could it?

"Corbin?" I whisper, my voice hoa.r.s.e with horror.

He moans fitfully and I realize he's unconscious and bound in the same magical ropes that knocked me down earlier. I turn my head to locate Headmistress Roberta, my eyes wide. "What have you done to him?" I whisper.

"Don't worry," the headmistress says, thanking the orderlies who wheeled him in. "He'll wake shortly. Though I imagine he's going to be a tad testy with you, now that we've confirmed you were the one who bit him ..."

Testy doesn't even begin to describe how Corbin must feel. Knowing that I mercilessly sucked the blood from his veins without asking permission.

"Let him go!" I beg. "You've got me. I'm who you wanted. He's innocent."

"My dear, I don't think you understand," Headmistress Roberta coos, walking over to Corbin and brushing a lock of hair from his eyes. "We need him for the experiment."

I swallow hard, praying she doesn't mean what I think she means. But of course she does.

"Once we've a.n.a.lyzed your DNA and mixed up a little blood c.o.c.ktail, we're going to give your boy here a transfusion." She looks down at Corbin with a proud smile. "He will become our Adam. First in the line of an all-new, all-powerful vamshee race able to slay any otherworld creatures who dare get in their way." She looks up, her face fierce with pride. "No one will ever laugh at Slayer Inc. again."

"But ... but ..." I can barely find the words. "Can't you experiment on someone besides Corbin? He hates vampires. His parents were killed by one!"

"My dear, why do you think we chose him?" Headmistress Roberta asks, shooting me a patronizing look. "The anger and rage inside of him will make for an excellent vamshee. And if he has the sudden undying urge to kill vampires once we've turned him? Well, that's kind of the whole point of a slayer, isn't it?"

I imagine poor Corbin, waking up and discovering he's been turned into the one thing he hates more than anything in the world. It'll kill him, for sure.

"You're a monster!" I cry, my voice choked with tears.

Headmistress Roberta rolls her eyes. "Monster?" she repeats with a chuckle. "Please. Have you looked in the mirror lately?" She turns to Dr. Franken. "How long before you'll have a clean sample?"

He looks up from his microscope. "It's going to have to congeal awhile before we can start working with it. Come back tomorrow morning and we should be ready for the injection."

"Very well," she says. "I will be back." She looks down at me and smiles her sick grin. "'Til we meet again, my little vamshee."

Ugh. I really wish people would stop using that term.

19.

After she leaves, Dr. Franken injects me with some kind of sedative and I'm knocked out almost instantly. When I awake, I find myself in some kind of windowless room. I'm on the ground, my back against a cold stone wall, and my arms and legs are bound with silver shackles, which have burned ugly red circles around my wrists and ankles.

My stomach heaves and I turn my head just in time to escape throwing up in my lap. Whatever they injected me with is doing a number on my insides; I feel nauseous and hungry and really weak from all the blood loss. So not good.

I blink a few times, trying to adjust my vampire eyes to the darkness. They fall upon a dark ma.s.s at the opposite end of the room. I take a tentative sniff and my nose recognizes the familiar hint of vanilla and sandalwood.

"Corbin?" I query. "Is that you?"

I hear an affirming groan and watch the ma.s.s shift-head rising, eyes opening, face recognizing.

"Rayne?" he cries, his voice filled with panic.

I nod. "Yeah, it's me."

"Where am I?" he asks. His wrists strain against his bindings, his arm muscles contracting. "Why am I chained up?"

I swallow hard. Here goes nothing. "Well, the best that I can figure is we're in the Night School building," I tell him hesitantly. "As for why, well it's probably best you don't know." I pray they haven't injected him with my blood yet. That it's not already too late.

I can see him shaking his head, trying to remember. Then he looks up, his eyes filled with horror. I can just tell he's reliving that moment in the library when he first felt my wings "You drank from me," he whispers hoa.r.s.ely. "It was you all along."

"Yes," I say. What good would it be to deny it now, even if I could? "Look, Corbin-"

"Oh G.o.d." He slams his head against the concrete wall. "I can't believe this is happening." He looks over at me with sick revulsion on his face. "How could you do this to me? After all we shared-after what I told you about my parents ..."

I cringe, feeling the ravaging guilt trying to swallow me whole. "I know. And I'm sorry. I know that probably sounds totally lame, but I am seriously really freaking sorry. Believe me, it was the last thing I ever wanted to do. And if it wasn't a life-or-death situation ... well ..." I hang my head. "I know, it doesn't matter. I still should have asked." I give him a brief play-by-play on the night the fairies attacked in the woods.

"I didn't want to do it," I conclude. "Not to you. Not to anyone. In fact, before that night, I'd never even drunk human blood. I'm a freaking vegetarian after all. But when Sunny and I were dumped here to hide out from the fairy army, there was no Blood Synthetic on campus. So it was basically drink human or die." I make a face, disgusted with myself even now. "And you just happened to win the vampire victim lottery."

Corbin is silent for a moment, digesting my story. "How do I know you're not lying to me now?" he says at last, in a tired voice.

"Evidently fairies can't lie," I admit. "It's one of our more annoying traits."

"Yeah. I can see how that might cramp a vampire's style," Corbin snarls sarcastically.

I let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, I don't expect you to forgive me. h.e.l.l, I don't even forgive myself at this point. I'm going to have to live with what I did to you 'til the day I die." I pause, then add, "Which will likely be very soon unless we figure out a way to get out of here."

"We?" Corbin repeats bitterly. "There's no 'we' in this scenario."

Right. Of course he'd feel that way. I'd feel that way if I were him. But in this case, it's counterproductive. I draw in a breath, trying to keep my patience. "Look, Corbin, I don't think you understand how much trouble we're in here."

"You almost killed me twice this week. How much worse could this be?"

I hang my head, not blaming him one bit for his anger. He feels betrayed and confused-and deserves to feel all that and more. But, at the same time, all this emotion is wasted energy. We have to work together to get out of here. For his own good as well as mine. How can I convince him of that?

Of course I could just re-glamour the guy. Make him fall in love with me again and do whatever I say. That'd be the easy way out. But looking at his angry, hurt face, I just can't bring myself to do that. To trick him again.

No, I have to be more honorable if possible. Only do that as a last resort.

"Corbin, listen to me," I say, trying another tact. "I've wronged you. Badly, horribly, unforgivably wronged you. I know that. And I will pay for it, one way or another. But right now, this isn't about me. It's about getting you out of Night School. Because tomorrow morning they plan to inject you with my blood. To make you into the same kind of monster I've become."

"I don't believe you," he snarls back at me. "They wouldn't do that."

"They've been doing it," I insist, gritting my teeth. "I heard them talking about failed experiments. And if we stay here, you're going to become one of them."

"No," Corbin says stubbornly. There's a hysterical edge to his voice. "You don't understand. I'm an Alpha. I'm going to Night School!"

I swallow hard. "Corbin, we're in Night School now. Does this look anything like what they promised you?"

He shakes his head miserably. Gone is all the c.o.c.ky arrogance. He's just a confused little boy who's had the rug pulled out from under him.

I take a deep breath. "Look, Corbin, I know this is a lot to deal with. But we have to figure out a way to escape, okay? Then we can deal with the rest of it."

He nods slowly. Good. "But how?" he asks.

I think for a moment. "What about the other Alphas? Would they help?"

"If they knew we were here, probably," Corbin says with a shrug. "But they don't. I was alone when they captured me. And we can't exactly text them our location now."

Right. Of course. I bite at my lower lip, thinking. My vampire strength has already dwindled and I don't think-even if I could reach him-Corbin's going to let me bite him again, even if it means regaining my vampire strength for a quick escape. "If only there were other vampires on campus," I muse.

"Why?"

"I have, like, one vampire power," I explain. "I can submit psychic cries for help that can be heard by other vampires."

He snorts. "That's a power? I think I would have held out for a kung fu grip or something."

I give him a half smile. At least he's making jokes.

"Well, it's not like I got to choose," I tell him. "But at times it is useful."

"Well, give it a try then. Maybe there's a wandering vamp out there in the woods. You never know."

"Okay." I'm not optimistic about that, but what the h.e.l.l. We've got nothing better. I close my eyes and lean my head back against the wall. Concentrating, I push my mental message as hard as I can.

Corbin and Rayne. Trapped in Night School. In danger. Need rescuing!

I open my eyes.

"Any luck?" Corbin asks, his voice betraying his eagerness. "Any vampires respond?"

"Um," I say sheepishly, "I don't actually know."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I can send. But I can't receive. So I don't exactly get an answer back."

"Now I'm positive I would have held out for a kung fu grip."

"Well, you may get your chance if we don't get out of here," I remind him, which sobers the mood. We fall into an uneasy silence, each listening to the still air, straining to hear a sound of rescue. For about a half hour we hear nothing. Then ...

The door creaks open. I look over in shock, my eyes widening as none other than Lilli herself steps through the entrance. She grins widely, showing off her fangs. "The vampire cavalry is here," she announces. "Prepare for rescue."

20.

"Lilli?" I cry in shock. "You're a vampire?" I can't believe it. Nor can I believe her outfit. I almost don't even recognize her. Gone is her cute little Catholic schoolgirl skirt and Little Orphan Annie hair, which I now realize must have been a wig. In its place is Goth Barbie's dream outfit, complete with black corset top, vinyl miniskirt, fishnet stockings, and platform boots, her long black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

She pulls out a pair of black leather gloves from her messenger bag and slips them on before attempting to break my silver chains. "My name's not actually Lilli," she says. "I'm Rachel."

"Rachel?" I repeat in shock. I knew she looked familiar. "Like, Rachel and Charity? Magnus's blood donors?"

"Former blood donors," she corrects, grabbing a pair of pliers out of her bag and cutting my chains. "We got infected by the blood virus, remember? So they turned us into vampires to save our lives, much like Jareth did with you. And just like you, we can go out in the sun."

"But why have I never heard of this? I thought Jareth and I were the only ones."

"Because we're working undercover, still living in the human world and pretending to be normal, mortal teenage girls. We can gain access to a lot of places that vampires can't, but at the same time, we're stronger than humans so we can get ourselves out of trouble." The chains snap and fall to the ground. I rub my wrists gratefully and she starts working on my feet. "I was a.s.signed here six months ago. The Vampire Consortium believed some high-up Slayer Inc. operatives had broken off from the main agency and were working to stage a coup." She looks up at me ruefully as the chains clatter to the ground. "Which, of course, seems to be true."

"Didn't you recognize us? Why didn't you tell us who you were?"

"I'm not supposed to break cover," she says. "No matter what. I did try to give you some hints. I even tried to share my stash of synthetic with you. But you kept refusing it."

I suddenly remember all her offers of getting me lunch. The gifts of red Kool-Aid that I never drank. Could I have prevented all of this, just by taking a sip?

"Oh man," I moan. "I'm such an idiot." I stagger to my feet, gripping the wall for support. My body's weak from all that blood they took and my toes have fallen asleep. Is this what Corbin felt like after I nearly drained him dry? I look over at him guiltily. At least if we get out of here he'll never have to go through something like that again.

"And then when I heard Corbin over there had been bit, it was pretty easy to put two and two together. So I contacted the Blood Coven and told them we were going to have to spring you, even if it meant breaking cover and aborting the mission. But by the time Magnus gave me permission, your sister had already turned you in."

"Not my sister," I correct. "A changeling pretending to be her."

Rachel nods. "Well, all I can say is thank the Goth G.o.ds you sent me that cry for help. Without it, I'd never have known where they'd taken you."

I throw Corbin a smirk. "Kung fu grip my a.s.s," I quip.

Corbin just rolls his eyes. Rachel approaches, kneeling in front of him and examining his chains. She grabs his arm and he grunts in pain.